How Legault moves past his offhand comments on Quebec's housing crisis

When Premier François Legault said last week that "no one has found themselves on the street" on July 1, moving day in Quebec, in the years since he came to office in 2018, he left many people furiously scratching their heads.

Tenants' rights groups and opposition parties pounced on Legault's apparent disconnect from Quebec's undeniable housing crisis that has left nearly 100 Montreal families looking for a place to live with just three days to go before moving day, according to Mayor Valérie Plante. 

The premier's words at the June 19 news conference were especially ill-chosen, as they came a little over a week after the tabling of Bill 31 — the contentious proposed legislation to end tenants' lease transfers. Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau, who sponsored the bill, is now the subject of an ethics investigation.

To add insult to injury, a report from the Canadian Rental Housing Index published the very day of the news conference showed that the average rent in Quebec climbed 14 per cent between 2016 and 2021.

But using a now-familiar move, two days later, Legault "clarified" his original statement about housing.

He explained he had not meant the government would "find permanent housing for everyone," but that it would resort to temporary housing solutions, like making use of hotels to shelter people experiencing homelessness, as it has "done on past July 1sts."

"We all agree that there is a housing shortage," the premier said, to put to rest any doubt that he's unaware of the well-documented crisis. He then said his government would work to reduce housing construction delays.

Inept as his initial comments may have been, the episode was just another hiccup for the premier.

A little more than a week before the June 19 news conference, Legault declared in error that the hamlet of Clova had burned to the ground as wildfires swept through the region 500 kilometres north of Montreal.

The announcement sowed panic among Clova residents who had fled and confused those who were still there as firefighter crews held off the blaze.

But when CBC contacted his office for clarification about Clova's status, Legault's media attaché replied with a screenshot of the provincial fire prevention agency's Facebook status update — published after the premier spoke — which called the situation "critical" and said the agency "may eventually have to pull its teams out for their safety."

While Legault's detractors might roll their eyes at a premier who appears ill-informed and too ready to make comments off the top of his head, his history of recovering from his offhand remarks and remaining unscathed politically is worth examining.

Quebecers seem to like the premier, no matter how much he trips over himself.

Legault uses a tried-and-true method in political crisis management: reframing. It involves shifting perspective on an issue, to regain control of public messaging.